“Me, too, which is why I stopped by. I thought it was time, if that’s okay.”
Jax had the feeling that something was happening but she didn’t know what. “It’s great. Sure.” She paused, not sure what else to say. “Did you want to talk about something?”
“I did.” Shawna practically danced in place, then held out her left hand where a diamond ring twinkled. “Harris proposed. We’re engaged.”
She kept talking but Jax wasn’t listening. He’d done what? She held in a groan. Of all the dumbass, shortsighted things, this was the worst. While she and her ex didn’t talk about hispersonal life very much, she knew him well enough to be sure he wasn’t wildly in love with Shawna. His only mention of her had been—
Crap, crap and double crap. He’d proposed to get around the parenting plan! That was why he hadn’t been pushing her. He hadn’t let it go, he’d decided to solve the problem himself in the most ridiculous way possible. Annoyance bubbled up inside of her but before she could deal with it, she realized Shawna was still talking.
“And I want us to be friends.”
“Us?”
“You and me. I’ll be marrying Harris and that’s going to make us family.”
Uh, no it wasn’t. “How old are you? Twenty-six?”
Shawna looked surprised at the question. “Uh-huh. I’m friends with your sister at school.”
“Oh, right. You teach what? Fifth grade?”
“Fourth. I’m only in my first year, but it’s wonderful. My students are so amazing.”
There were several more sentences about the brilliance of the kids she taught, but Jax was busy trying not to pound her head against the wall. Harris was a moron. A total, thoughtless moron. Seriously? The man had fake-proposed to a twenty-six-year-old?
“Is this going to be your first marriage?” she asked, interrupting the other woman.
Shawna blinked several times. “Absolutely. I don’t believe in divorce.” She paused, as if realizing she might be getting into dangerous territory. “For myself. It’s a family thing. But of course when things weren’t working out with you and Harris, it was very sad.”
“Very,” Jax said, more concerned about how seriously Shawna would take the engagement. “Are you planning a big wedding?”
Shawna beamed at her. “Not too big. A couple of hundredpeople maybe. My mom’s so happy. She and I are close, so we’ll plan everything together. I think that will make the day even more special. I want traditional for sure. The white dress and a church wedding.”
Jax would bet every dollar in her 401(k) that Harris wasn’t the least bit interested in a church wedding, but her bigger concern was how this was all going to end for Shawna. Not that it was her problem, but still. She felt sick at what the other woman was going to end up going through.
“I’d like Gentry to be a bridesmaid,” Shawna said earnestly. “But I wanted to talk to you about it, first.”
“She’ll be thrilled to be asked,” Jax said. “I’m fine with it.”
“Oh, good.” Shawna pressed her hands together. “I want you to know I’m going to be there for the kids. I’m a teacher so I have some experience with different family dynamics. I like both kids so much. I’ll be their stepmom but I’ll never try to take your place.”
Which were all the right words and Jax knew she should be grateful, but honestly listening to Shawna was making her feel old and tired. Had she ever been that young and idealistic? She supposed she had been, back when she’d fallen in love with Harris. She’d just known they were going to be together forever and now look at them. He was very probably leading on a very nice young woman and Jax was standing here braced for what was going to be a very difficult train wreck.
Just then she heard a familiar flap of wings. She instinctively held out her hand so Ramon could land on her fingers. He immediately hopped up her arm to her shoulder, then peered at Shawna.
“Hello,” he said in an upper-class British accent—the result of her watching a little too muchMasterpiece Theatre, with Ramon eagerly following along.
Shawna’s eyes widened as she took a big step back. “That’s a very large, ah, bird.”
“This is Ramon. He’s an African gray parrot and he’s very friendly.”
“Hello,” he repeated, his tone slightly more impatient.
Shawna retreated another two feet. “I’m afraid of birds.”
“Some people are. It’s okay.”
Shawna looked from her to Ramon and back. “So, I, ah, just wanted to, you know, introduce myself and tell you about the engagement. But I should be going and I’ll see you soon bye.”
